Paul Preston

From the foremost historian of 20th century Spain, A People Betrayed is the story of the devastating betrayal of Spain by its political class, its military and its Church.

The culmination of a half-century of historical investigation, A People Betrayed is not only a definitive history of modern Spain but also a compelling narrative that becomes a lens for understanding the challenges that virtually all democracies have faced in the modern world. Whereas so many twentieth-century Spanish histories begin with Franco and the devastating Civil War, Paul Preston's magisterial work begins in the late nineteenth century with Spain's collapse as a global power, especially reflected in its humiliating defeat in 1898 at the hands of the United States and its loss of colonial territory. This loss hung over Spain in the early years of the twentieth century, its agrarian economic base standing in stark contrast to the emergence of England, Germany, and France as industrial powers. Looking back to the years prior to 1923, Preston demonstrates how electoral corruption infiltrated almost every sector of Spanish life, thus excluding the masses from organized politics and giving them a bitter choice between apathetic acceptance of a decrepit government or violent revolution. So ineffective was the Republic--which had been launched in 1873--that it paved the way for a military coup and dictatorship, led by Miguel Primo de Rivera in 1923, exacerbating widespread profiteering and fraud. When Rivera was forced to resign in 1930, his fall brought forth a succession of feeble governments, stoking rancorous tensions that culminated in the tragic Spanish Civil War. With astonishing detail, Preston describes the ravages that rent Spain in half between 1936 and 1939. Tracing the frightening rise of Francisco Franco, Preston recounts how Franco grew into Spain's most powerful military leader during the Civil War and how, after the war, he became a fascistic dictator who not only terrorized the Spanish population through systematic oppression and murder but also enriched corrupt officials who profited from severe economic plunder of Spain's working class. The dictatorship lasted through World War II--during which Spain sided with Mussolini and Hitler--and only ended decades later, in 1975, when Franco's death was followed by a painful yet bloodless transition to republican democracy. Yet, as Preston reveals, corruption and political incompetence continued to have a corrosive effect on social cohesion into the twenty-first century, as economic crises, Catalan independence struggles, and financial scandals persist in dividing the country. Filled with vivid portraits of politicians and army officers, revolutionaries and reformers, and written in the "absorbing" (Economist) style for which Preston is so revered, A People Betrayed is the first historical work to examine the continuities of political unrest and national anxiety in Spain up until the present, providing a chilling reminder of just how fragile democracy remains in the twenty-first century.

Paul Preston is the world's foremost historian of Spain. This surging history recounts the struggles of the 1936 war in which more than 3,000 Americans took up arms. Tracking the emergence of Francisco Franco's brutal (and, ultimately, extraordinarily durable) fascist dictatorship, Preston assesses the ways in which the Spanish Civil War presaged the Second World War that ensued so rapidly after it. The attempted social revolution in Spain awakened progressive hopes during the Depression, but the conflict quickly escalated into a new and horrific form of warfare. As Preston shows, the unprecedented levels of brutality were burned into the American consciousness as never before by the revolutionary war reporting of Ernest Hemingway, John Dos Passos, Herbert Matthews, Vincent Sheean, Louis Fischer, and many others. Completely revised, including previously unseen material on Franco's treatment of women in wartime prisons, "The Spanish Civil War" is a classic work on this pivotal epoch in the twentieth century.

Anatomija kollektivnogo psikhoza, okhvativshego Ispaniju v 1930-e gody: Pol Preston rasskazyvaet, kak falshivye novosti, korruptsija i nostalgija po utrachennomu velichiju porodili patologicheskuju nenavist i sposobstvovali normalizatsii nasilija - chto privelo k gibeli soten tysjach ispantsev v bratoubijstvennoj bojne. Proslezhivaja sudby shesti kljuchevykh figur natsionalisticheskogo dvizhenija - ot poeta-propagandista i istovo verujuschego svjaschennika do komandovavshikh silami mjatezhnikov generalov, - avtor demonstriruet, kak absurdnaja teorija o zagovore evreev, masonov i bolshevikov prevratilas v gosudarstvennuju doktrinu, pozvoljavshuju opravdyvat massovye ubijstva neobkhodimostju zaschity khristianskoj tsivilizatsii i slozhivshegosja vekami uklada. Eta kniga - ne prosto istorija stanovlenija ideologii frankizma, no i groznoe preduprezhdenie o tom, kak granichaschaja s paranojej konspirologija sposobna na desjatiletija travmirovat dazhe slozhno ustroennoe obschestvo s bogatejshej istoriej.

Ser Pol Preston - odin iz veduschikh mirovykh istorikov, priznannyj spetsialist po istorii Ispanii i glavnyj biograf Fransisko Franko. Bolee 50 let on izuchal grazhdanskuju vojnu v Ispanii i frankistskuju diktaturu, za svoi issledovanija udostoivshis mnozhestva prestizhnykh mezhdunarodnykh nagrad. V etoj knige Preston obraschaetsja k odnoj iz samykh zamalchivaemykh tem XX veka - sistematicheskomu unichtozheniju rezhimom Franko svoikh politicheskikh protivnikov. Opirajas na arkhivnye dokumenty, svidetelstva ochevidtsev i tochnye statisticheskie dannye, avtor raskryvaet masshtab gosudarstvennogo terrora, stavshego osnovoj diktatury. Kniga poluchila vysokie otsenki istorikov i zhurnalistov. Obozrevatel The Guardian Dzhajls Tremlett nazval ee pervoj polnoj i chestnoj popytkoj osmyslit etot uzhas, otmetiv umestnost termina "kholokost" dlja opisanija masshtabov nasilija. Za gody pravlenija Franko okolo milliona chelovek byli zakljucheny v tjurmy po politicheskim motivam, tysjachi - kazneny, i eto issledovanie stanovitsja dokumentalnym svidetelstvom mrachnoj stranitsy evropejskoj istorii.

Paul Preston's The Coming of the Spanish Civil War is widely regarded as a classic account of the collapse of democracy in Spain and the and outbreak of the civil war. In a narrative that paints a picture of picture of a deeply divided country, he coherently and excitingly outlines the social and economic background to the conflict. Explaining Spain's predicament as a predominantly poor, agricultural country riven by economic inequality, Preston deftly shows how the Republican-Socialist coalition's attempts to reform Spain in the early 1930s were continually undermined and thwarted by right-wing parties and factions. The incompatible interests represented by these two mass parliamentary parties - those of the landless labourers and big landlords, of industrialists and workers - spilled over into conflict which could not be contained within the parliamentary arena, leading ultimately to the outbreak of conflict in 1936. Drawing on archives, diaries and letters of major protagonists, The Coming of the Spanish Civil remains the definitive account of a conflict whose legacy is still being confronted in Spain today. This Routledge Classics edition includes a new Preface by the author, in which he reflects on how the book came to be written.

Paul Preston's The Coming of the Spanish Civil War is widely regarded as a classic account of the collapse of democracy in Spain and the and outbreak of the civil war. In a narrative that paints a picture of picture of a deeply divided country, he coherently and excitingly outlines the social and economic background to the conflict. Explaining Spain's predicament as a predominantly poor, agricultural country riven by economic inequality, Preston deftly shows how the Republican-Socialist coalition's attempts to reform Spain in the early 1930s were continually undermined and thwarted by right-wing parties and factions. The incompatible interests represented by these two mass parliamentary parties - those of the landless labourers and big landlords, of industrialists and workers - spilled over into conflict which could not be contained within the parliamentary arena, leading ultimately to the outbreak of conflict in 1936. Drawing on archives, diaries and letters of major protagonists, The Coming of the Spanish Civil remains the definitive account of a conflict whose legacy is still being confronted in Spain today. This Routledge Classics edition includes a new Preface by the author, in which he reflects on how the book came to be written.

"Ispanija v ogne" britanskogo istorika sera Pola Prestona - glubokoe issledovanie odnogo iz kljuchevykh konfliktov XX veka: ne stolko khronika sobytij, skolko polnaja nauchnaja "biografija vojny". Tsel kotoroj - popytka objasnit, pochemu imenno Ispanija 1930-kh prevratilas v arenu klassovogo, ideologicheskogo i mezhdunarodnogo stolknovenija. Preston pokazyvaet, kak politicheskie sily - ot anarkhistov do monarkhistov - borolis za svoe videnie spravedlivosti, kak i pochemu vmeshatelstvo SSSR, natsistskoj Germanii i fashistskoj Italii prevratilo vnutrennjuju vojnu v preljudiju i generalnuju repetitsiju Vtoroj mirovoj - i predopredelilo ee formy. Kak istreblenie tselykh sotsialnykh grupp stalo smyslom i tselju etoj vojny - i kak dalnovidnyj Franko, formiruja svoju model poslevoennoj Ispanii, namerenno unichtozhal istoricheskuju pamjat proigravshikh. Avtor pokazyvaet raznye "pravdy" i objasnjaet, pochemu formalno zakonchivshajasja vojna prodolzhaetsja do sikh por - i aktualna daleko ne tolko dlja samikh ispantsev.

Spain, the EEC and NATO (1984) examines the causes and consequences of the paradoxical situation whereby NATO member states welcomed a newly-democratised Spain into their ranks in 1982, with many Spanish citizens being firm opponents to Spain’s participation in NATO defences; while Spain’s attempt to join the European Community enjoyed widespread public and political support in Spain, but aroused serious resistance within the EEC, particularly by France.

This collection of essays by Paul Preston, the preeminent historian of modern Spain, falls broadly into three sections. The book's title reflects the first three chapters that deal with the hypocrisy and prejudice of British foreign policy towards the Spanish Republic, greatly influenced by the right-wing diplomats Norman King and Sir Henry Chilton. Their attitude contrasts sharply with the selfless humanitarian efforts of medical personnel from across the globe, including many doctors and nurses from Britain, Ireland and Commonwealth countries whose contribution is discussed in the next two chapters. The final two chapters assess the influence on British perceptions of the Spanish Civil War of four prominent 'writer-historians': George Orwell, Herbert Southworth, Burnett Bolloten and Gerald Brenan. Essential reading for anyone interested in finding out more about the background to British attitudes to the Spanish Civil War

This collection of essays by Paul Preston, the preeminent historian of modern Spain, falls broadly into three parts. The book's title reflects the first three chapters that deal with the hypocrisy and prejudice of British foreign policy towards the Spanish Republic, greatly influenced by the right-wing diplomats Norman King and Sir Henry Chilton. Their attitude contrasts sharply with the selfless humanitarian efforts of medical personnel from across the globe, including many doctors and nurses from Britain, Ireland and Commonwealth countries whose contribution is discussed in the next two chapters. The final two chapters assess the influence on British perceptions of the Spanish Civil War of four prominent 'writer-historians': George Orwell, Herbert Southworth, Burnett Bolloten and Gerald Brenan. Essential reading for anyone interested in finding out more about the background to British attitudes to the Spanish Civil War.

The Triumph of Democracy in Spain tells a gripping story of the tortuous creation of Spain's constitutional monarchy. The book provides an authoritative account of the tribulations of the forces of progress, beginning in 1969 with the disintegration of Franco's dictatorship and ending with the remarkable Socialist election victory in 1982.

We Saw Spain Die is about the courage and the skill of the men and women who wrote about what was happening in Spain during the Civil War, by the world's leading authority.

This book is a compilation of several articles about the Spanish Civil War by different authors each one dealing with a matter.